1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to folding portable electronic equipment including a cover fitted thereto.
2. Background Art
Mobile phones are more and more widespread, and a great number of users of the mobile phones use them for sending/receiving e-mails and for making calls. The users, who carry mobile phones, would often drop the mobile phones accidentally to deface the appearance thereof.
To tackling this problem, there have been proposed various mobile phones provided with a cover for preventing the phone main body from being damaged by dropping. The mobile phones with a cover are devised so as to be readily usable by detaching the cover or so as to be usable with the cover attached as it is.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 11-285408A discloses a cover for securing a mobile phone which is to be fitted to user's belt or the like, and of which attachment and detachment to and from the belt or the like can be performed readily. Further, the user can make a call with the mobile phone secured to the cover.
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 11-299522A mentions that a cover includes upper and lower flaps to form a loop for being fitted to user's belt, and the flaps are made to adhere to the cover body at use so as not to serve as an obstacle.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2005-136261A discloses that in compact electronic equipment including a main body, which includes box bodies that secures equipment main bodies and a sheet part that fixes the box bodies, and a cover for covering the main body, the sheet part of the main body includes a flange portion protruding sideways from the box bodies, and a bag-like peripheral portion for being engaged with the flange portion is formed at the outer edge of the cover so that the cover is fitted to the sheet part.
Problems that the Invention is to Solve
In recent years, accessories for changing the appearance of a mobile phone are developed. In other words, there are demands for attaching various accessories from day to day according to user's mood, for changing accessories from season to season, for changing accessories between for private use and for business use, for changing accessories according to company, and so on.
Although a conventional cover for portable electronic equipment, such as a mobile phone or the like can prevent the equipment from damage and can prevent the user from feeling unpleasant when the equipment is in contact with the user, the appearance thereof cannot be changed according to time, purpose, or occasion. Specifically, the detachable cover of a mobile phone as in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2005-136261A moves with respect to the flange portion at opening and closing unless the flange portion is bonded to the bag-like peripheral portion, resulting in easy falling off of the cover. For this reason, the flange portion must be bonded to the cover, which means that the cover cannot be detachable.